The climate crisis is an existential threat. It is a fact that recent climate change is man-made, and is having effects significantly faster than background geological, natural, changes. There are tipping points such as world forests becoming net emitters of CO2 rather than CO2 sinks – we don’t know for certain when these tipping points might be reached, or if for some it is already too late. A study published in Nature Medicine estimated that climate change has already killed 4 million people globally since 2000 from malnutrition, floods, malaria and more. The World Health Organisation estimates that between 2030 and 2050 there will be 250,000 additional deaths per year from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and heat stress alone, and there are already 7 million premature deaths per year due to air pollution, largely caused by polluting energy systems. These estimates are probably conservative, and don’t include any of the impacts on non-human life.

It is never to late to act, every fraction of a degree of heating prevented will make a difference to people’s suffering, and the reduction of fossil fuel burning in any form will make people’s lives healthier.